Nine charged with irish teenagers death

In the state of Massachusetts, a storm is swirling. Its eye is a small-town high school. It has taken in a small house surrounded by a picket fence where a desperate teenage girl took her life, has shaken the state senate, and travelled across the Atlantic.

Nearly one week after nine students were charged in relation to the suicide of Phoebe Prince (15), the aftershock and outrage has not abated. In fact, it seems, it has only begun.

Parents and other members of the besieged community of South Hadley, which until now had not understood what it was like to be the focus of so much unwanted attention – much like the young victim herself – are slowly starting to round on those who might have helped, but didn't.

Teaching staff at South Hadley High School are now at the centre of the controversy and are rallying behind each other in the face of rising anger in the community and growing demands that someone take responsibility for what happened.

One parent, Luke Gelinas, a father of two, accused school superintendant Gus Sayer and principal Daniel Smith of failing to act quickly in bringing punishments against those responsible for Phoebe's death.

"Change is not going to happen until we first have accountability," he said. "And I'm not talking about accountability from 15- and 16-year-old girls. I'm talking about accountability from grown men who were hired to do a job."

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune last week, principal Smith remained defiant, insisting he had still to see any evidence that staff were aware of the problems but failed to act.

The sideshow will be little comfort to the victim's family, who are not only coping with the loss of a child, but also with a whirlwind of publicity and intrigue.

For Phoebe a new start in America was supposed to bring with it all the traditional promise of opportunity and life. The 15-year-old had lived in the Ardeamish area of Co Clare on the border of Lisdoonvarna, Doolin and Fanore. Her family had moved from England when Phoebe was two years old.

Although well liked, Phoebe's parents were not heavily involved in the community and one local source described them as "bordering on reclusive".

Phoebe's mother Anne O'Brien worked as a teacher and had taken up a post at the local Mary Immaculate Secondary School.

Her father Jeremy worked in horticulture; locals admired the family's well-manicured garden.

Last September, Phoebe moved to the US with her family from the Ardeamish area of Co Clare. Her family had moved from England when Phoebe was two years old.

Arriving in South Hadley would have been an exciting experience for any impressionable young girl. Phoebe told her friends in Ireland that it was like living in a movie. The plot was about to take a tragic turn.

Since its rise to infamy, the small town, located about 90 miles from Boston, has been described in several contradictory ways. It has been a "fairly grim, lower middle-class town" and a "well-to-do middle-class town of 17,000".

But the most negative words have been reserved for the town's high school; it has been depicted as a sports-mad institution, and a nursery for America's Ivy League system, but also, in the minds of strangers, it has come to embody a cruel and hostile American education system.

Hanging

Some time during the afternoon of 14 January, Phoebe's 12-year-old sister discovered her lifeless body hanging in a closet.

Earlier that day she had been hysterical, according to witnesses, and had visited the school medical officer. It had been another day of torment, during which she was pursued home and heckled, a drinks can thrown at her from a passing car.

Phoebe's demise came partly as a result of her novelty – the exotic foreigner in the humdrum hometown.

Her accent and good looks aside, testimonies from students suggest it was her popularity with the boys – and one in particular – that sealed her fate at the hands of a group of cruel and tenacious girls.

She had caught the eye of Sean Mulveyhill, a senior and a school football star, and the quintessential American high-school heart-throb.

Mulveyhill (17) had a history with another girl, Kayla Narey (17). Narey was reportedly part of the group that would soon have Phoebe in its sights. The tragic series of events was set in motion.

Phoebe was targeted on multiple fronts; she was openly and persistently abused in school, labelled an "Irish slut", and physically attacked. The abuse never let up.

But in today's world, bullying spreads through technology and Phoebe's suffering extended far past the gate posts of South Hadley High.

Her phone number was circulated and she received countless abusive text messages. Facebook, the social-networking site that has transformed the lives of students, was quickly adopted as a means by which to ridicule her.

After the girl's death, private services were held in her memory.

An obituary, carefully released after the funeral, noted with dignity: "What her family and friends from both sides of the Atlantic grieve is the loss of the incandescent enthusiasm of a life blossoming."

Soon the grief surrounding Phoebe's death turned to anger.

An internet campaign circulated the names of the four girls believed to be principally responsible for the bullying, and a Facebook page was set up entitled "Expel the Girls Who Caused Phoebe Prince To Commit Suicide".

The news that the Northwestern District Attorney would launch an an investigation sparked questions in the community regarding the role of the school.

The debate, and pent-up anger in a town now the focus of international media attention, quickly grew and culminated in further angry calls for action last week.

In a letter to parents days after Phoebe's suicide, the principal of South Hadley High said: "Some students made mean-spirited comments to Phoebe in school and on the way home from school but also through texting and social-networking websites. This insidious, harassing behaviour knows no bounds."

It was an acknowledgement of what had occurred. But parents wanted to know what had happened to allow it occur. And anger directed at school staff began to take hold.

On 2 February, the Boston Globe reported: "Parents and students furious at South Hadley school officials' slow and secretive response to the suicide of a bullied 15-year-old girl are expected to descend on the town hall tonight to call for the school chief to be fired."

Superintendent Gus Sayer and principal Daniel Smith were called on to resign.

Parents wanted to know why the students responsible were still attending class.

The school promised that, after its own inquiry, those found to have been responsible would face "the most serious consequences" and added that students had already been disciplined.

Finally it was announced that an unconfirmed number of students had been disciplined and would not return to the school. The term 'expulsion' was avoided on the basis of human rights being afforded to those in question.

Anger

Last week, the anger increased following claims that some staff members were aware of the treatment of Phoebe and even witnessed it, but did nothing.

This is a claim rejected out of hand by Smith, who told the Sunday Tribune: "We have yet to be able to meet with the District Attorney to hear about the evidence behind her statement that two teachers 'were in the presence' of the bullying.

"The US media has generalised from this statement that most, if not all, teachers witnessed the bullying and did not act – this is blatantly untrue.

"At this point, we do not have any evidence that any staff member was aware of the bullying and chose not to act. If the District Attorney shares such information with us, we will obviously respond appropriately."

As with many scandals, the failings of a system are exposed only when it is too late. Parents believe this was the case at South Hadley High but the school disagrees.

William Adams of the school committee described Sayer and Smith as "two of the most qualified individuals I have ever met."

Both men are well liked and respected; many parents, during a meeting at the school towards the end of February, gave Smith a standing ovation as pressure mounted. But the storm continues to rage.

In the wake of the scandal, reforms were quickly put in place. There have been numerous meetings at the school in recent weeks on how to combat bullying.

A taskforce was set up and, far more crucially, a legislative panel in Boston approved an anti-bullying bill in February. This defines and specifically bans bullying and requires state schools to put in place procedures to prevent bullying campaigns.

In March, the Massachusetts senate voted 38-0 to approve the legislation. It will be Phoebe Prince's legacy.

But there is no happy ending to a story in which one girl has died and nine teenagers face a variety of charges from statutory rape to the violation of civil rights and criminal harassment.

And legislation will not abolish the wider problem of internet bullying. "This is a big problem," said Senator Robert A O'Leary, a sponsor of the bill. To identify such a problem is to lay down the gauntlet. But it is not tantamount to victory. In fact, noted O'Leary, the problem was "getting worse".

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

This from last weeks Tribune. Principal still seems to be at odds with those who claim teachers witnessed the bullying and did nothing.



http://www.tribune.ie/article/2010/apr/04/flowers-for-phoebe-fury-for-the-friends-who-drove-/?q=phoebe%20prince